Sleeping Devil
by Halloweenhead131
Summary: As the legend goes - With lips as pink as sakura, skin as pale as snow and hair as red as roses with the eyes of horrid gold. Wielding a destiny like a gambling man, speech of liquid clarity and loyal to dead mans row.
1. Chapter 1

_The light - it was bright against her eyelids and to try and open them was a chore, the grogginess was mingled with pain as it coursed though her body. Like a river that was ever constant in it's way but with a current that kept changing._

_She could smell the smoke, the pungent smell of burning and rotten meat permeating the air. It was sickening and made her stomach lurch so much it tasted like sour bile in her throat._

_Her face was wet, she could feel a stickiness on her skin and she didn't want to see just what it was. Yet she did anyways, her curiosity forcing her eyes open._

_The violet of her cornea met red, the shimmering liquid red of freshly spilt blood. It was what soaked through her kimono and what made her cheek feel wet._

_As she lay helplessly trapped, breathing in shallow breaths, tasting the blood through the sour taste of vomit, as the lifeless bodies of her people lay on top of her along with the rafters of one of the villages small but study households._

_Eyes framed by thick black lashes going wide as tears threatened to spill and to sting her scraped cheeks. Nails biting into the thick cherry wood as she struggled for freedom._

_The horror and fear, she could feel both clutching at her like the claws of a falcon snatching fish from a river. Her heart like a sparrow within the iron cage of her ribs beat furiously at its walls._

_The fear crawled up her throat, out of her lung in a high pitched curdling scream._

She woke in a cold sweat, as she sat up on her futon her night kimono clung to her pale skin as the night air seeped through the open shoji doors of the dojo making her eyes water and skin crawl.

Her back ached, where the scar from the upper left shoulder down to her right hip laid ragged and still very pink. She knew that if she went back to sleep now, all that awaited her would be horror and pain.

She breathed a sigh and ran a hand through her strawberry red hair, black nails catching on the tightly wound braids hidden throughout. She rubbed her face with her other hand, scratching the tip of her nose with her index finger.

Calming herself had never been easy, there was no one to comfort her or tell her that her fears were irrational or to explain away her pain. No objects of interest that she could look to or something to bring back what had been taken from her all too unwilling hands.

She looked out the open shoji door of the dojo and up to the full and bloated moon that hung in the sky like an over full fish.

How she would love to reach out a single black clawed hand and pluck the moon from the sky like a swollen prize.

Like a sakura blossom from the over full trees.

The flowers grown on the bloody battlefield that she called home.


	2. Chapter 2

The yearly Sakura Festival always started to bloom in the early days of spring, although the days were counting down to the festivities they still flowed like water and soon the festival would be upon them. Decorations were being set up, the paths through the blooming trees were being cleared away and vendors from all over Japan were showing their faces to make a fair bit of coin.

She sat on the edge of the dojos wooden planks that ended suddenly in a swept cobbled courtyard as she listened to the hustle and bustle of the villagers. Her nodachi was propped up against her right shoulder, the end between her hallux and second toe to keep it from shifting and falling over. She sat with her head bowed and her eyes closed, breathing in the natural scent of sakura blossoms and dirt.

This is what she lived for, well that and the old woman's cooking who lived across the village. Made the best dango she had ever tasted.

She heard footsteps, the breeze blew past her nose and the scent of sweat hit her like a brick in her sinuses almost causing her to vomit up her rice cakes and sake from earlier it was that _pungent_. The smell of horses came next as the man ran past the dojo and inside it in quite the hurry. The hooves of the horse trampling through the dirt and kicking rocks every which way, she jerked her head to the right to dodge a swiftly shot arrow. It flew past her cheek and embedded itself in the wood an inch from her pierced ear.

She opened her eyes slowly, the feathers of the arrow a bright red contrast against the pale pink of sakura petals on the trees.

"What's this unruly action?" She spoke, her voice a liquid silk between the space of her and the man upon the horse who held a long bow delicately between his fingers.

"..." He apparently wasn't much of a talker, it slightly made her mad but she didn't show the emotion through her face.

"They say they are from the Toyotomi army and then started slaughtering people!" The boy she had heard earlier run into the dojo had stepped up behind a pillar beside her, she watched wary of the soldiers presence and out of the corner of her eye saw it was the old woman's grandson.

"These men are not of the _Toyotomi army_." She stood, at her height with the help of the dojo's wooden floor that was two feet above the cobbled stones she could almost look the soldier in the eye without looking up.

In her white kimono she gripped the hilt of her nodachi with her left hand, she felt her fingers tingle, the power from within her stirring at the thought of a good fight. Yet her mind was calm and her heart was at ease, this is what she had trained for after the death of her people.

Battle and war.

"_Bishamonten...God of war...Guide my blade_." And without further prayer she unsheathed and darted forward, her body becoming a white streak against the grey cobble stones. The horse reared, knowing she was at it's feet before it's rider did, hooves skittering in the dirt the rider was thrown backwards with a startled yelp. His bow flying from his grip as he hit the ground as she darted yet again around the horse and beside the soldier.

No noise was made as her nodachi was flipped backward after a downward arc, blood flying from only the tip before thrusting her elbow to the cold metal and preforming yet another arc, more powerful than the last upwards. Cutting through armour with a slight sound and down through skin and bone she flicked her sword, now in her right hand, cleaning it of blood.

She horse whinnied and galloped off somewhere to her left, back down the road.

"Kasai-sama!" She turned back and looked at the old woman's grandson as he yelled her name, she followed his pointing finger to the black smoke coming from the village.

"Stay here!" And she was off through the trees surrounding the dojo, twigs and branches tried to snag the long sleeves of her kimono but she cared nought for the small things. She jumped off a fallen branch with such force her foot cracked the newly fallen wood.

She jumped from branch to branch, lightly as she tried to make less noise as she neared the village.

She did not like what she saw at all when she hit the tree line without a sound. People who were cut down lay in the streets, a woman with a crying child attached by cloth to her lay unmoving against a building. A little girl held onto one of her dolls as she looked for her parents, tears streaming down her face as a fire ravaged the house behind her.

She jumped from the tree and looked around, she walked up to the woman slumped against the building across the street from the blaze and checked for any sign of life.

There was none, but even in death she held her child protectively, she had to pry the woman's hands already set in death. She wrapped the bundled baby tighter in her cloth, the tears from her eyes had already dried and now the babe was wailing. Kasai placed the bundle in the crook of her arm and slung her nodachi over her right shoulder, holding the child in her left arm she made her way a little farther down to the ten year old whimpering.

"Lady Lasai?" The girl couldn't pronounce the letter 'K' and it came out as an 'L' instead.

"Tomoi...come here, take the baby..." The little girl Tomoi, named after her grandmother or other relative tentatively took the baby from Kasai's arms.

"Do you know the way to the dojo, Tomoi?" The girl whimpered yet again but nodded none the less and started off towards the dojo with renewed hope. Kasai had no hope of finding her parents.

She checked each body as she scoured the streets, she found a few survivors, each was sent off towards the dojo and she also found a few wounded but there was nothing she could have done for one of them. She put him out of his misery at his request.

She found herself having to climb across the rooftops, as she went she slid down the side of a tavern roof and jumped off. Hitting the ground at an eased jog, Kasai looked around at the flames that had engulfed the several shops, including the blacksmiths place.

She vaguely had the consideration to wonder if he had made it out alive from the blaze.

"Over there!" The yell made her turn, four soldiers stood in between two village shops, she doubted any of them had any trick up their sleeves but she was still suspicious.

"You there!? Lay down your weapon!" She grunted, she would not lay down her weapon, she couldn't afford to even if she wanted to. It was the last treasure she had in her possession, as well as the last reminder of her family.

"If I say _no_?" The soldier laughed, either too foolish to realize who she was or he was confident in his abilities. No one should be that alive if you have to cut down unarmed villagers to be confident in themselves.

"Then prepare to _die_..._girl_." She smiled ruefully, her ears ringing as her heart beat replaced itself in her power. Her sword glowed with an electric blue light, her fingers tingling as the power went up her arm to her shoulder.

"Fine by _me_."


	3. Chapter 3

Blood...fire...death and destruction. It is was melded her like metal into a sword. It is what makes war what it really is. She didn't feel the loss of loved ones anymore. Not like the child weeping silently beside her as they trudged through the darkness of night, the glow from the fires burning the once proud village down into simmering ashes and heaps of burnt wood.

After she had defeated the four soldiers she had found the rest of the villagers rounded up in the villages largest home, to be executed without reason or merit of understanding. Kasai was sickened by the countless bodies of the villagers that laid strewn about...man, woman nor child was spared from slaughter. Just like it had been fifteen years before.

Kasai wondered if she was cursed to walk this earth forever, with only a handful of survivors like herself. It still felt as if she was alone, and Kasai slightly blamed herself for what happened.

Because heartbreak, death and total annihilation always seemed to follow her around like a shadow. It was a wonder how she was even still living.

As they walked, Kasai grew weary of a pain in her right shoulder, the same pain followed the path down her upper arm to her elbow. She could only faintly feel blood moving below her clothing from her skin as she carried a young woman on her back who had collapsed due to too much smoke intake.

It was a burning sensation, it felt as if her skin was so dry it was flaking away from her body. Like she had been burned with a hot stick. Kasai was pretty sure that if she had been burned though she would have felt it before she had lifted the woman, perhaps it was the woman's blood and body heat that made her arm feel this way.

Kasai could not be sure, so she trudged on through the thick dullness of the night along with the other survivors of such an attack.

When they saw the flaming torches of Oshu, several people called out and ran forward with waving arms. The men of Oshu called back, and the gates to the castle of the One Eyed Dragon were opened to let them through. Kasai could hear the water of a river splashing somewhere nearby, she lowered herself to her knees and let two men carry the woman to the doctors.

"Lady Kasai!?" One of the soldiers knew her, she stood straight, her nodachi being handed to her as she did so by the old woman's grandson. She said a thank you before he ran off with the old woman's cart as she had been injured during the attack.

"Lady Kasai!?" Again she was called, she turned as a soldier pointed to her shoulder, the right one. She looked, the kimono she had been wearing had been burned away, she wrinkled her nose at the smell of her own burnt flesh but also at the sight of charred blackish red skin she was too accustomed with.

"Oh..." They were the only words she could have come up with, she felt weak, really weak. Her legs felt like ramen noodles and her arm burned with a fierceness that would rival the sun. Her eyes were drooping and heavy and were unfocused as they stung because of the smoke she had to walk through. Her feet were bloody, she knew that much for certain and her grip had been so tight on her nodachi earlier that it had made her fingers go numb.

She could still vaguely feel the ebb and flow of her power run through her body, already trying to repair all said damage by itself. Kasai knew that it couldn't do it by itself as she felt herself wobble slightly on her feet, her back hitting the hard wood of the castle gates that didn't give an inch under her sleight weight.

Her vision was hazy and she lifted her pale hand to look at her skin, the edges blurred as her fingers twitched without consequence as if to try and keep her from sleeping.

She felt so tired though, her body just waiting to slip into a dark abyss to heal and recuperate the strength it needed to keep going. She slid to her left, vision going black, face slack already in the throes of sleep, muscles convulsing mechanically to keep from being damaged any farther.

_She had no clue which way was up, down, right or left. She saw nothing but blackness surrounding her, although she had a feeling of comfort and a sense of ease envelop her entire being. As if she was being watched over in the blind shadows._

_A slight purrish-growl resounded yet she did not start, the noise flowed through her like water, and it was an earthly sound, real. It was a passionate resonation in the air like fire and a breeze blew past her cheeks calming her into placid stillness even further._

_A red glow started in the distance, moving with a slow gait, taking it's time towards her as it moved at a sure lope. It's head, like a dogs with thick furry shoulders, the thick fluffy tail moving in a wag behind it._

_It was crimson in color, and as it made a yipping noise it started to trot as if it was excited to reach her._

_It was a wolf._

_It's eyes like gold, but a dull gold, unpolished in the sockets. It stood before her like a massive ghost, it's shoulders proud as it's head came level with her eyesight._

_"Kasai no za• Sunō...Fire of the Snow." It bowed and she was amazed, no real life wolf would have been able to talk, yet this wolf before her was moving it's mouth as if it was human._

_"I am..." Her voice was soft, almost a whisper as if she spoke any louder it would startle the huge beast before her._

_"Of the Yuki no Hitobito clan. I am correct." It nodded it large head as if it was an understanding elder, she had a feeling that the wolf was her elder._

_Way before her time he had been sleeping peacefully, but always present as a vigil of her people. All but one of her people have died out, leaving only herself behind._

_"I will teach you the ways of the 'Fire upon the Snow' and you will rebuild your future girl." The wolf stood proud and tall before her, it's eyes set in a passion that threatened to blow her away in it's midst. Orange light erupted all around them and she did not flinch from the flames but embraced them, the warmth heating up her pale cheeks to become a rosy red._

_Born in snow but gifted with fire._

_The child born of ash and desuction, bathed in the blood of her own people._

_Fire of the Snow._


End file.
